December 16th

Nuffield Foundation Trustee Andrew Dilnot has been appointed chair of the UK Statistics Authority, the organisation responsible for the top level governance of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), and for the independent scrutiny of all UK official statistics.

Research funded by the Foundation has been influential in the Law Commission’s recommendations to change inheritance law to allow unmarried couples who have lived together for five years or more to inherit from each other without writing a will.

December 12th

Support for independence in Scotland has recovered to levels not seen since the SNP first came to power in 2007, according to latest results from ScotCen Social Research’s Scottish Social Attitudes Survey (SSA).

However, while there is widespread support for a more powerful Scottish Parliament, the Scottish public remains divided about the likely economic consequences of independence – views that will be key to the outcome of the independence referendum.

November 29th

What do research biobanks, Twitter and the NHS have in common? All involve people who are showing solidarity with others. And thinking about how solidarity plays a role in our society can offer solutions to policy making, concludes a new report published today. For example, Twitter and other social media could be used more systematically to track the spread of disease and share information during flu pandemics. And participation agreements for research biobanks should be revised to make biobanks more efficient in working towards improving health.